Just Married

LOL and how true?

Nice thoughts JST.

Money may be a video game to everyone. Survey found that 65% of US millionaires worth $38 million or more feel “financially insecure.”

“Flight to saftey?”

What/where/when is this safety, and who can fly in a hurricane?

I just turned bullish, I mean the underlying economy is so strong, that how can you not be? Sixs months from now the american economy will be powerful! lol

Actually one slight modification.

Recession-your friends lose their jobs.
Depression-you lose you job :-).

“Seriously,gold is just a ware but it has certain advantages over most commodities. It is small in size, anonomous (sp) and fairly portable. If you want a truely investable metal, try the platinum group. It includes palladium and rhodium and all have industrial uses.”

How interesting that you mentioned several metals but not silver. Which already comes in much smaller denominational sizes, is industrial and investable. Oh, did I mention that its been a currency of choice by the vast world’s populations over thousands of years or that it was up 5.5% during this four day trading week and that it sells at only $18 an ounce?

“The drawback is that they usually don’t earn income.”

You’re right, its called capital gains.

Sorry, Pat G. I didn’t mean to overlook silver. I’m sure you own it and have and will probably continue to do quite well.

The point about commodities is that sometimes they too go to excessive prices. Probably not for some years because I can’t see any public hoarding–yet.

I have a friend rooting for silver. He still has some of Bunker Hunts at $38/oz.

Doing your homework on commodities is really quite fun. Most markets are transparent and their is a ton of national and international data. They are supply demand markets for the most part but rise and fall with the tide of emotions also.

The battle over gold or silver or palladium is more like I’m a Chevy…Ford…or Chrysler man of days gone by.

Shane,

I agree on the inflation thing as well. I was trying make a point that information is global but impact is personal. Savings are a joke in this country but I get a feeling that the excessive spending of the Boomer generation is getting ready to transition to a more moderate lifestyle of the Gen X, Y and Mil kids.

The video game reference is true too. I had Pong, Super Pong and the first Atari system that had computer dots that were supposed to be tanks in a combat game. We did need a neighbor kid to play back then. Now, link up online and play half way around the world. Here is the key point, when we were done playing video, we turned it off. We can’t turn this thing called the economy off. X’ers (like me & you) have not had to feel the pain of a receding economy.

JST,
I completely agree that Xers have not had to feel the pain of a receding economy. I think we will have to learn the hard way. However, I would also add that in general a bad receding economy is pretty much extinct from the the public conscience.

The last really bad one was 1980 . . . 1990 was hard, but still you talking at least 20-30 years of no societal memory of a bad recession-which wipes out a huge chunk of the working population. If you were 25-30 at the last bad recession you’re pushing 60 and retirement now. That’s pretty much an entire working generation that has relatively no clue what bad times are like.

And it’s not just that, it’s the fact that for an entire generation relatively few children have been taught to be frugal. How many parents just go out and buy their kids new iPods, cell phones, computers, cars? Why? not b/c they need it but just b/c they want it. Parents are now “expected” to pay for college. Upper-middle class parents are now starting to pay for the downpayment on houses like they started to fund college education 20 years ago. So as a society we teach our children “don’t worry, be happy” someone will be there to pull your bacon out of the frying pan. We have 25-30 year-old adults living with their parents b/c it’s cheaper than renting or buying. Seriously what lessons as a society do we teach our kids when we do these things for them-no responsibility and no self sufficiency.

Prosperity is wonderful . . . the problem is that if used unwisely we end up teaching our future generations the exact opposite of what brought about that prosperity.

One of the great lessons my dad taught me . . . we were in a store and I wanted toy .. . he said no .. . I persisted . . . He said before you buy it wait 12 weeks, if you can save your allowance for the next 12 weeks and afterwards you still want it . . .then I’ll consider helping with the rest of the cost. The concept of delayed gratification took root in my brain-and 12 weeks later I realized I neither needed nor wanted that item. 20 years later, I’ve paid for college on my own, and I would never think about moving back in with my folks, or borrow money from them, after 3 years of working I’m completely self-sufficient with enough financial stability for over a year . . . now if I can just knock that house thing down :-).

Funny . . . all the great lessons my dad taught me about money he now ends up asking me for money . . . go figure!. I guess it shows you sometimes it’s hard to practice what you preach :-).

I don’t understand why some people denigrate gold. Isn’t gold the ORIGINAL money? Everything else that is used as money is just a substitute for gold.

I don’t think young people understand hyperinflation. If it happens here, you can be damn sure that the farmer mentioned above isn’t going to take paper money for his bushel of wheat.

Ruderick,

I agree with you that gold would become a currency. I am not denying or criticizing the notion. I will tell you that we as a society would probably be much better off if we were gold backed.

On a personal level, why invest in gold unless you actually have the gold in your hand. Not the paper saying you bought gold but the actual gold itself. The piece of paper saying you own gold or gold futures is worthless if it all hits the fan. It is no better than what we are seeing playing out in the markets. Insurers not being able to honor policies.